"I think the decision of whether I want to continue playing or not I would want to make in the offseason. It's just one of those things…you realize you can't play forever. Certainly when you get to be my age and you suffer a significant injury it can help push you out the door. I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't at least considering that possibility," Berkman said.

"You think about it when you have a potentially major surgery at this stage of your career. But, again, right now we don't know what it is. But it gives you pause," the first baseman said. "I don't think it's one of those deals where you sit out a week and see where your are. I think it's much more serious than that."

Berkman, 36, added that he wouldn't automatically call it a career if he has re-torn his ACL and that he is hopeful that he will be able to bounce back from his injury. The veteran is earning $12MM this season but has appeared in just 13 games thus far.

For his career, Berkman owns a .296/.409/.546 slash line across 14 seasons and has earned more than $102MM in total, according to Baseball-Reference.

Obviously I don’t know that, I’m reading between the lines. Berkman said he’s hoping it’s a torn meniscus and he can be back within a few weeks, but he believes it’s worse than that. Berkman knows his body better than anyone. It’s bad and he knows it.

They also called up Adams which leads me to believe they are planning to be without Berkman for quite awhile. I don’t believe they would call him up for just a couple weeks. They’ve been very careful with prospects lately and I don’t see them playing the up and down game with Adams.

So even though they haven’t officially ruled Berkman out it’s easy to see this is a pretty serious injury. I’m guessing he is done for the year and he really doesn’t make sense on the 2013 Cardinals unless Craig, Carpenter, Adams are all failing.

your right , this is more then just a simple injury, it very well could be a season ending injury for Berkman.. I dont see Adams as the answer at this point.. he is not an Albert in the waiting.. Craig is a partial answer, though we dont know if he can stay healthy, between this and the BP, expect some trades to happen in the next month..

Wow, that’s just miserable, especially when you consider he’s got so much left in the tank if he could just stay healthy. Definitely a HoFer, IMO, would be a shame to see his career end on these terms.

Only if they continue to water down the standards for enshrinement. Berkman falls into the category of good ball player, but not great. The Dwight Evans type (though Berkman was never a GG caliber defender) offensively that never quite stands up to Hall worthy.

Berkman put up 60 WAR in a career that only spanned 12 full seasons. He had only two seasons in his career with an OPS below .900- one was at .896. His career OPS is 19th all time, second among switch hitters, only to Mickey Mantle. Yes, it was higher than Chipper’s or Murray’s.

Issue of perception vs. reality, here, look at the numbers and you’ll see it my way. He was a FAR better hitter than Evans.

Someone forgot to look at the defensive end.. Please remember it’s all about a 2 ended game.. if you just want to look at players from 1 perspective.. Ortiz crushes berkeman but nobody would say he is a HOF for obvious reasons.. he was a horrible player even when he played in the field and Berkamn..Nobody would confuse with an even decent OF and Evans it was known to have been the finest RF in the game during most of his time with an absolute cannon for an arm.

THAT is the equalizer, but then.. he isn’t a HOF either.. Just like Berkman..

I’ll say this, when he played in SF before LA he missed a bounced throw from Freese entirely. It was a bad throw but one that a healthy Berkman would’ve easily gotten a glove on to stop it from going down the line and allowing a run to score. He really looked like his legs were locked and given how little movement it took for him to torque that knee it seems this may have been lingering for awhile.

Mariano plays a much less demanding position than Berkman. On average, Mariano pitches about an inning every 3 games, while Berkman played in the outfield for much of his career. But yes, it would be a damn shame for Berkman to be forced to call it quits

Actually yes you can, especially if you had one before. Many of us have frayed ACL’s waiting to tear that can be detected by an MRI. Even if they do not know exactly when they know the likelihood it could happen hence the one year deals.

ha ha u are a joke Choate. after all the yr’s won a w/s out side of Texas and still lives there. He will not go to Houston AL next yr. he doesn’t like that at all. Texas has no place on their team for a 36 yr old.; ha ha ha !
donWsox !

A “torn ACL” … what is that supposed to mean? If it’s a partial tear (AKA, a sprain) it’s potentially recoverable but it will take months, and the knee will never be the same since the ACL doesn’t really heal. (Been there, done that.) A complete tear means ligament replacement, and forget about playing baseball and just be happy walking again.